The man infamous for stealing the golden "Saliera" salt-shaker worth 38 million Euros from the Vienna Museum of Art History is back at work – selling alarm systems

´Saliera´ cat burglar back selling house security By Thomas Hochwarter

The man infamous for stealing the golden “Saliera” salt-shaker worth 38 million Euros from the Vienna Museum of Art History is back at work – selling alarm systems.

The theft of the precious item in May 2003 is considered one of the most-spectacular criminal cases in Austria since World War Two.

Vienna resident Robert Mang, 53, acquired some kind of fan base after claiming he had had a few beers before climbing into the museum at night through a window and randomly stealing the precious item by Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini.

When Mang found out through media reports that the piece he had stolen had an estimated value of 36 Million Euros, he tried to extort money from the Uniqa insurance company. Tracked down by the police, he led them to a forest near the town of Zwettl outside capital Vienna where he had hidden the Saliera.

He was sentenced to five years in prison but served only two years and nine months before his early release in October last year.

Now Mang, a specialist in alarm systems, is back in his old job, according to Austrian daily “Kronen Zeitung”. The paper reported he had distributed advertising leaflets and made appointments to check on the state of installed alarm systems or to install new ones.

Mang has received offers of hundreds of thousands of Euros from national and international newspapers, TV companies and magazines for his story, but his lawyer Lukas Kollmann said: “He wants to be left alone in order to lead a normal life again.”